Living a lie over Afghanistan

[GAP]

Living a lie over Afghanistan
By Jordan Michael Smith Tue, June 26, 2007
Article Link
 

The controversy over the proposed (but ultimately unsuccessful) removal of ribbon-shaped decals from Toronto city vehicles showing support for Canadian troops in Afghanistan underscores how unpopular this war is becoming.

Canada wants out. That's the message of a June 10 poll by Decima Research. Only 1 in 4 Canucks believe Canada should stay in Afghanistan longer than February 2009, even if "that is necessary to complete our goals there." Sixty-seven percent think "we need to do our best to accomplish progress in Afghanistan but that we must stick to the deadline and get our troops out."

The poll also shows that most Canadians think we're doing a good job rebuilding Afghanistan, but that we're not doing such a good job of battling terrorism.

Let's get something straight here. The real internationalists are those who want to stay in Afghanistan. They believe Canada, as a wealthy, safe country, should continue to rebuild a nation that has been marred by civil war, even if that means Canada suffers casualties. Such casualties, they think, are outweighed by the number of Afghan lives Canada is saving.

No benefit

The isolationists, the ones who are only concerned with Canada's immediate interests, are among the ones who want out. Remember that most Canadians think Afghanistan is being rebuilt, they just don't think Canada is benefiting.

I don't doubt that among those who think we should leave are those who think Canada is just killing Afghans and not helping the country, though the poll shows they're in the minority. But they are wrong.

A Johns Hopkins University study shows the mortality rate in Afghanistan has decreased to the point where 40,000 babies per year have been saved since the Taliban was toppled.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion in April, in the House: "As long as our NATO allies believe Canada's commitment in Kandahar to be open-ended, they will never prepare for our departure ... Canadians do not want an open-ended war ... By February 2009, we will have served the people of (Afghanistan) for seven years ...We will have served them in a full combat role for three years, in the most dangerous part of the country."

There are many ways to interpret Dion's ideas, but internationalism is not one of them.

Internationalism is not 'we will help you for a while' or 'we will help you as long as we don't take casualties.' It is, 'we will do whatever we can to help you beat the Taliban.' It is looking at the cost/benefit of us being in Afghanistan. And there is simply no way one can think the number of civilians we kill is too big a cost for the benefit of saving 40,000 babies a year.

Abandonment

If Canadians want a change in strategy, focusing less on military measures, that's one thing. It happens to be the position I hold -- every civilian we kill makes things harder, and the Americans, especially, rely on air strikes far too often.

But abandoning Afghanistan is not a change in strategy; it's an abandonment of strategy. Canadians want to leave because they are uncomfortable taking casualties in a foreign country with slow, hard-to-measure progress.

If Canadians don't want to take the internationalist position, they should at least be honest with themselves. Canadians want to look after themselves. They shouldn't fancy themselves humanitarians for abandoning Afghanistan to a medieval theocracy. That we can be both internationalists and isolationists is impossible. It's a lie, and one for which I want no part.

www.jordanmichaelsmith.com
End

 

[Edward Campbell]

Smith's last lines "If Canadians don't want to take the internationalist position, they should at least be honest with themselves. Canadians want to look after themselves. They shouldn't fancy themselves humanitarians for abandoning Afghanistan to a medieval theocracy. That we can be both internationalists and isolationists is impossible. It's a lie, and one for which I want no part." echo Ruxted's words: "If the price in Afghanistan is too high for the Canadian public, then the potential cost of any operation (especially those involving an element which stands to benefit from prolonged destabilization) is also too high. If the price in Afghanistan is too high then it is time for Canadians to ‘fess up’ and admit that they don’t care about world peace and the plight of the poorest of the poor; it’s time for Canadians to say “I’m all right, Jack!” and retreat into self satisfied, greedy isolationism."

It's good to see someone else is onside.

 

[edgar]

Living a lie over Afghanistan
By Jordan Michael Smith Tue, June 26, 2007
Article Link
 

40,000 babies per year

'nuff sed. I'm in.

 

[Armymedic]

Probably will not find this article in the Globe and Mail.

 

[CdnArtyWife]

Perhaps the people of Canada are looking for the climax that we have come to automatically expect and is rampant throughout our culture.

This article makes me think of an email I recieved (with the instruction to post to the blog) from hubby.

Well I am back, and to be honest faithful reader it was not until I was on the long plane ride back that I started to consolidate my thoughts into what I could say to sum up my time home. I could mention how odd I felt, when I went to the drivers side of my minivan to get in as a passenger, to when we went to the mall and saw so many people, and men and women without weapons, and I did not have to barter a price for my produce, though I wished I could.

And yes, I was eager to get to come back to Afghanistan, to get back to this dangerous little sandbox. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed my time home, immensely, and I put every effort into “being there” with my wife and my kids, my family and friends. But I knew when I went home that my time was not over, and bits of my job would travel with me lodged in my brain forcing me to think, create, solve, debate, and somehow deal with them. In no effort to delude myself I believe/ know that my wife knew this as well.

My time home made one thing become very clear. In all movies, except those crafted to not have closure, there is a climax. There is an ending, satisfactory or not. Sports provide the same thing- all sports. Our culture is dictated by pop culture events that have definite, and often times, immediate results. In NHL playoffs there are winners and losers, game-by-game, series by series. The quality of play and anticipation make the game-to-game series to series excitement something palpable. TV shows, even long running series often have single episodes that introduce ‘conflict’, show our antagonists and protagonists, their struggle and always - resolution.

My stay in Afghanistan, and that for many soldiers here will not have closure, a climax, or a satisfactory ending in the conventional sense of the word. This is no video game, sporting events, or episode of Friends. There will be no battle that signifies the defeat of the Taliban and insurgents, and results Afghan civilians dancing in the streets, and NATO soldiers returning home to ticker tape parades, and roll credits.

There will not be a final school or hospital opened in the next three months that will have the general Canadian public rejoicing that we have educated/ healed the masses of Afghanistan.

What I am saying is that we will return home to Canada making way for the next wave of soldiers. What will dictate that our job is done, and that we ‘won’? For many soldiers out in the sand sweating, fighting, and surviving the mere act of returning home, whole and alive may be enough of a climax. But for those of us in the relative safety of KAF this is less of a victory, still felt, but not on the same scale. We will return home, heroes all, but without that pop culture sense of victory. Is that why so many of us volunteer so easily to come back? To finish the job? Soldiers do not define success by adhering to a fabricated and often times irrational “Exit Strategy” but by mission completion, and mission success.

Perhaps we can take solace in the fact that for these six months we were at the top of our professional game, for all the strife and struggle we were at the top of the pyramid. For some this will be the culmination of more than a year of dedication to training and deployment here. For others this will be step two or step three in a revolving door of continuous assignments to Afghanistan. To some soldiers this will mark a fitting twilight on long careers, for others a bright and lucky start to a career. So maybe we aren’t bringing a gold medal home when we touch down on that tarmac, but the sense of accomplishment will be no less, and families will recognize the relieved but wistful looks in our eyes when we think about what’s next.

It seems to me that the people of Canada want to see some evidence of a looming "big O" so that they can have their proverbial cigarette and roll over and go to sleep.

 

[GAP]

Perhaps the people of Canada are looking for the climax that we have come to automatically expect and is rampant throughout our culture.

This article makes me think of an email I recieved (with the instruction to post to the blog) from hubby.

It seems to me that the people of Canada want to see some evidence of a looming "big O" so that they can have their proverbial cigarette and roll over and go to sleep.

Excellent.

 

[ModlrMike]

      The issue that few seem to appreciate is that modern North American culture has resulted in a people with the attention span of a gnat. If the problem isn't solved by the end of the evening news cast, then it's not important. We live in a time of instant gratification, and clearly can't comprehend that 30 years of privation and warfare won't be solved by a 30 day deployment.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

These people that call for us to leave Afghanistan are the same  that sheep that are going to cry until we go to Darfur.  Darfur the place that doesn't have a fraction of the allies or support (see logistics, heavy lift, attack helicopters etc) that Afghanistan has and perhaps the same amount or more problems.

 

[a_majoor]

It is hard to square the desire of the lefties to go to Dafur with their same eagerness to quit Afghanistan. Even discounting the fact the Government of Sudan does not want us there, while the Government of Afghanistan does, we still have the same underlying condition back home:

But abandoning Afghanistan is not a change in strategy; it's an abandonment of strategy. Canadians want to leave because they are uncomfortable taking casualties in a foreign country with slow, hard-to-measure progress.

People forgot that good work and good deeds are not virtual, and now balk at paying the price of feeling good.

 

[Infantry_wannabe]

It's easier for them to support an imaginary mission than to support a real one. The NDP, for example, originally supported the war in Kosovo and now Afghanistan. They only suddenly changed their minds when the inevitable tragedies occured. In Kosovo it was cost to civilians, in Afghanistan it was our own casualties and the images of our soldiers actually shown using their weapons on TV (gasp).

They should have known the tragedies would occur before they did. That is war. Their ignorance is quite inexplicable to me.

Darfur would be the same. They'd support it until they got their way and the first casualty or the first accidental killing of non-combatants by a bombing occured.

You know also, if troops ever go to Darfur, the streets would be full of people carrying signs saying "No Imperialism in Darfur."

Oh well. All you can do is what you believe is right no matter what the fools say.

 

[MarkOttawa]

A Darfur roundup at another topic; Western troops in any numbers ain't gonna go:
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/25883/post-583019.html#msg583019

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Benny]

It is hard to square the desire of the lefties to go to Dafur with their same eagerness to quit Afghanistan. Even discounting the fact the Government of Sudan does not want us there, while the Government of Afghanistan does, we still have the same underlying condition back home:

I would suggest that they oppose Afghanistan simply because the right supports it.